


a little less bruising

by poalimal



Series: sam/bucky drabbles [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drabble, Exhaustion, Family, Gen, Jewish Bucky Barnes, M/M, Memory Issues, Sweet Nothin', references to World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 03:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19142569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: Bucky makes a pot roast. Sam just wants him in bed.





	a little less bruising

 

'A pot roast?' Sam says, coming into the living room. Bucky jerks awake. 'Who makes a pot roast in this kind of heat?'

Bucky blinks a lot, tries to look wide-eyed and alert. Sam sinks down on the couch next to him, the twitch of his lips indicating that yea, he's not buying it.

'I didn't remember before,' Bucky says after a moment, leaning down against Sam's shoulder. Sam feels so warm always, so good and solid against him, he feels he could just stay here forever. 'My uncle made it a few times. I think.'

'Your uncle?' A siren, a screech, a series of honks outside the window. Road rage weather.

Sam threads their hands together. Bucky's eyes fall closed.

'Baby, you're falling asleep.'

Bucky could drink a whole bottle of that sound in Sam's voice - the way he says _ba-by_. He slits his eyes open with a smile.

''M'awake,' he says. He presses a kiss up under Sam's chin because it's at an awkward angle, so it's probably been neglected all this time.

Sam laughs - Bucky feels it like a smile in his chest. Sam deserves better kisses than that! 'Sure you are. So I have your French chef uncle to thank for the mini-heatwave in my kitchen? Was this your Uncle Jonah?'

'Uncle Judah. He wasn't French, he lived in France,' Bucky struggles to stay awake. 'Disappeared during the war. Dunno if he died.'

'Ah,' says Sam.

Bucky opens his eyes and drags his head up. Looks Sam over.

'You don't have to be sad about it,' he says, careful as he can be with a mouth dry like mush. 'I didn't say it to make you sad.'

Sam half-smiles at him, shaking his head. 'I want to know about you,' he says, finally. 'Even when it makes me sad.'

Bucky puts his head on Sam's shoulder again. He has to close his eyes again, he has to hide his face.

'Ok,' he says. He clears his throat. 'Well. Same here.'

 _Same here_ , tch. If there were words enough... those wouldn't be them.

Bucky knows he'll never be any good for Sam, just like he knows he's never getting over him, either. But if he can minimise the bruising he causes him, maybe, if he can minimise his pain... if he can bring something good into Sam's life... a pot roast, a listening ear, a reason to laugh, then maybe-- maybe it'll be alright, after all.

Oh, Sam's talking again: '--glad to hear that.' Ah, he missed it, he missed what Sam said! He doesn't think he's ever liked the sound of someone's voice so much as he likes Sam's. Even when he's being annoying.

For example: 'Ok, no, I'm sorry, I really need to know,' says Sam, 'what made you wanna handle a knife, raw meat, _and_ root vegetables after two back-to-back missions? Y'all Avengers need a union, I swear.'

Bucky snorts, squinting open his right eye. Sam 'Sorry, I'm Still At Work' Wilson wants to talk about overextending oneself? Glass houses, bud.

But Bucky's too tired to have that fight again. 'I said I'd make you dinner...,' he says instead. 'I said I'd treat you, huh...'

Sam's chest goes up and down as he lets out a sigh. 'And I said we'd go to bed, so, c'mon.' Inconceivably, Sam starts moving out from under him, Sam starts _standing up_ , and trying to tug him to his feet.

'I have to watch the roast,' Bucky grouses, sliding facedown into the little imprint Sam's left behind on the couch. A butt-print isn't warm enough! He scowls into the cushions, refusing to open his eyes.

'I can watch the roast, Buck, c'mon,' Sam says. It sounds like he's laughing, why is he so far _away_! 'Stand up - that's it - I got you - one foot in front of the other - here we go. Almost there, B, c'mon. Here we are, just lie down here. Doesn't that feel better than the couch? C'mon and go sleep, ok. And I'll make you a plate for when you wake up. Alright?'

Somewhere, deep in the pillows of the bed, Bucky reaches out 'till he finds Sam's hand. Sam sits on the edge of the bed beside him and leans down into a kiss.

'Go to sleep, baby,' he says. Bucky manages one eye open; sees him smile. 'I'll be here when you wake up.'

Bucky smiles, and sighs, and passes out.

 

**Author's Note:**

> In late 1939, before the German occupation of France, Judah Barnes, a conscientious objector, escaped from Paris to Martinique under a false name (JJ Boise). It was there, cleaning tables at a cafe in Sainte-Luce, that he met his future wife, Delphine Baptiste, a poet and activist of some regard. Delphy later told her mother that JJ was the sorriest-looking fellow she'd ever seen. Maybe she made him a little less sorry, after all - she and JJ had their chuppah in Schoelcher on April 13, 1942, a warm and windy day. 
> 
> JJ never again returned to Paris; never forgave himself for surviving.
> 
> The Boises did not travel to the United States until after the war ended. JJ did not bring Delphy along with him until October 1969, only a few years after _Loving v. Virginia_. Delphy declared New York City a cold and miserable place 'but for the smile of my darling [Rebecca], who looks so like my Zilpa I think of her quite naturally as one of my own.' 
> 
> JJ and Delphy moved to New Orleans in the 80s, and died within 4 days of each other, in June 1997. 
> 
> They are survived by their three children Zilpa (the writer), Heloise (the singer), Jacques (the black sheep of the family - named for JJ's nephew, who died in the war), their grandchildren Aude (a professor), Hadassah (a poet), Alain (a cellist), and their great-grandchild Sidonie (who goes by Sid - a tree-climber, spider-saver, and spelling bee champ).


End file.
